I'm not so new anymore but back when I was new here's what happened: after three days of "teaching" my sixth grade son at home, I realized our relationship would never recover from an entire year of math worksheets, English lessons, and the feelings of frustration which marked the end of our, admittedly few, days. So this blog documents our first year of unschooling--the good, the bad, and the better--and then it just keeps on going...

October 19, 2007

A Graph Of My Emotional State While Deschooling

I was feeling extremely crappy today so I decided to make a graph of my emotional state since starting to unschool. I thought it might give me a good laugh. So I reread all my posts, tried to remember what was happening and how I was feeling, and this is what I came up with.

As you can see, there are lots of ups and downs, but overall it's better than I expected. My ideal emotional state would be right in between "Okay" and "Euphoric," and even though I only hit that note a few times, I was glad to see that I spent more time above "Okay" than below it.

By the way, it was the whole video game thing that got me down today. I think I might need to request a screen-free week so we can see what life used to be like before all these screens took over our home. Maybe that will help us find our balance.

Oh, and I told Jerry about the new allowance plan today. It didn't go over so well. There was some crying (his, not mine) but in the end we worked out an arrangement that we all felt happy with.

Jerry is spending the night at a friend's tonight so Warren and I are going out for a bite at one of our favorite cozy little restaurants. I'm going to have smoked chicken with macaroni and cheese. If that's not comfort food, I don't know what is. Maybe I'll be lucky and they'll have creme brulee for desert! I'll be back up to "Euphoric" in no time!

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"It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for what this delicate little plant needs more than anything, besides stimulation, is freedom. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty."